Military Flying .. In Limbo

Hi Wrei: With one lens covering the entire range, what would I do with all my bodies ??

70 years ago today 617 squadron Royal Air Force was formed specifically to undertake one mission - Operation Chastise - this was to be the most audacious bombing raid ever undertaken.

The Squadron motto: Aprés moi, le déluge - 'After me, the flood'.

The Squadron is more commonly known as the Dambusters

Mrussphoto, you would receive a warm welcome, and have a great time rain or shine! Keep us posted and I'll put you on the distinguished guest list for HQ Thursday. No stinking sequestration is going to affect our good time!!

Jeff, Jay, Chris, Mark, .....................very nice!!

More pics of the Bear on the truck. Going to be a long ride to TX.
http://www.aafo.com/hangartalk/showthread.php?10819-Bear-On-The-Move!/page3

One of the ex-crew chimed in that they are moving her over 1,700 miles to fix something that isn't wrong. Things are not real good in the Rod Lewis camp right now.

It's the golden rule, he who has the gold, gets to make the rules. So far that hasn't changed.

Supervisory Position...
T-34 Mentor used as Range Safety and Control

For those of you who might be waiting for the ISAP 2013 Symposium schedule:

Symposium field trip plans announced

Plans for the field trip during the ISAP XII Symposium in Seattle May 16, 17 and 18 are complete. The day will begin with a visit to Paine Field in Everett for a light breakfast and a group briefing/planning session for an air-to-air photo flight. For the first time at an ISAP symposium, members who wish to participate in the photo flight can do so, on a first-come, first-served basis. Six members can fly in Grumpy, the Historic Flight Foundation’s [LINK: http://historicflight.org/hf/] B-25D Mitchell, while John Sessions—the foundation’s founder—flies a P-51 Mustang as the subject airplane.

In addition, 12 members can enjoy the opportunity to take a flight in the museum’s DC-3—and one could photograph the B-25D Mitchell, from a North American T-6. The cost of these flight experiences are $575 and $350 for the B-25 (two passengers will ride in the forward part of the airplane, where there are no opening windows); the cost is $350 per person for a DC-3 flight; and the T-6 opportunity is $1,000. You must be a current ISAP member and attending the symposium in order to participate. Reservations are first-come, first-served and will be handled by ISAP email isapboard@aviationphoto.org and type “Friday flights” in the subject line); you will pay the museum directly. If there is sufficient interest we will schedule a second air-to-air mission.

Members who do not choose to go flying will be able to photograph the takeoffs and landings of these vintage aircraft from beside the runway. In addition, there will be an opportunity to visit the Museum of Flight Restoration Center,[LINK: http://www.museumofflight.org/restoration-center] also located on the field.

Later in the day, we will visit the Museum of Flight [LINK: http://www.museumofflight.org/visit] at Boeing Field. The independent, nonprofit museum is one of the largest air and space museums in the world; its collection includes more than 150 historically significant aircraft—as well as The Boeing Company’s original manufacturing facility. We anticipate being able to shoot after the museum’s normal hours, and with tripods if desired.



Pre-symposium field trip Wednesday, May 15

A pre-symposium field trip to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island

[LINK: http://www.cnic.navy.mil/whidbey/index.htm] is being offered on Wednesday, May 15. Participants will tour a P-3 Orion unit and the air traffic control tower, and will have lunch on the base. Because of the federal government’s current sequester, this trip is limited to 20 members. The charge for this field trip will be $60 per person. You must be a current ISAP member and attending the symposium in order to participate; arrive at the hotel Tuesday (a few rooms are still available at the discounted rate of $99 plus tax) because departure will be early Wednesday morning. To reserve a seat, email isapboard@aviationphoto.org and type “Pre-symposium trip” in the subject line.



Plans for the field trip during the ISAP XII Symposium in Seattle May 16, 17 and 18—as well as an optional pre-symposium trip—have been announced. For the first time at an ISAP symposium, members who wish to participate in an air-to-air photo flight can do so, on a first-come, first-served basis. See the complete details on the ISAP website.

http://aviationphoto.org/isap-xii-2013-symposium-field-trip

http://aviationphoto.org/isap-xii-2013-symposium-hotel

http://aviationphoto.org/isap-xii-2013-symposium-speakers

The good news and bad news is that it's looking like I'm going to be shooting pretty much back to back well into the summer and quite possibly the balance of the year. In addition to my existing clients, I've recently been blessed with several additional large national, and international clients, and, like all my clients, I want them to feel like they are the only ones I have Anyway, this schedule I seem to be on currently, looks like it will be ramping up a bit, which puts my attendance at ISAP 2013 in jeopardy. I'll keep you posted.

That being said, it looks like a great symposium with something for everyone. We've worked very hard on it.

Glenn Watson wrote:
Get those Nikon cameras ready for the photo pass..

Glenn
That silver is a poppin' Glenn, nicely saturated.

Jeff W. wrote:

Hey Brian - thanks for the kind words. On the super bug image, I had on my CP filter to help me deal with some serious southwestern desert brightness and the stark blue skies.

On the two BA images, I used no filter. The four ship take off has some unusual exhaust colors due to the bio fuel they use - smells like burning celery to me. I added a little contrast in post to help pop the BA's away from the mix of bio exhaust and white smoke.

The image of the three ship launch occurred when there was some serious haze issues being created by farming activity immediately east of NAFEC. Accordingly, I had to play with my LR4 and CS6 sliders to help the Hornets emerge more prominently from the haze.



The haze was what was throwing me off, couldn't tell if it was a CP filter on those or not.

I think you'll find that most of the shooters here rarely use polarizers. I have four Schneider/B+W CP's that haven't seen the light of day since I went digital.

My good friend Bill Fortney has been wringing out his new 80-400 VR on St. Maarten. I've known Bill for a very long time, admire him greatly for numerous reasons, one small one is that he is not given to hyperbole where it doesn't apply. His impression is that the 80-400 is every bit as sharp as the 200-400 and he feels the IQ is incredible. Good enough for me. And, it'll look really great on my D4X

Had a quick chance to say Hi to Bill at WPPI in Vegas last week...

I guess all camera company guys head to the Caribbean after expos. Bill went to St Maarten and I think I saw D Carlson (who I also saw in Vegas) was down there somewhere as well.

I guess Canon announced.............um........nothing new at WPPI. Difficult to believe, but it looks like Nikon might well release yet another advanced pro line body while Canon keeps working on video cameras. If that comes to pass, I'll most likely do what I did 20 years ago and make the switch back to one brand.

Jim, ISAP wouldn't be the same without you, but a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do. Field trips and speakers lineup sound terrific: kudos to the Board.

I got a notification from B&H yesterday that the 80-400 VR is in stock. Hmmm...

Thanks Zim, I'll miss being there, especially after all the work that has gone into it. Don't write me off completely, but it looks like the odds are against it. Who knows, I could be close to Seattle and be able to make it. I think we will offer the BWC print program like we did last year, so be thinking about what you might like to exhibit.

An 80-400 is supposed to be showing up here very shortly. Based upon Bill's evaluation I think it would make a great addition to our Nikon gear. Now if they'd get busy and come out wit a 17 PC and the D4X

I think I'm going to standardize my travel kit as all-Nikon. A year ago I didn't own a stitch of Nikon gear. As of today I'm thinking D800, D7100, 24-70, 70-200, 80-400. I like the smaller bodies for travel since the bag all this gear fits in is small enough to fit in any airline overhead, including RJ's and Saab 340s.

I've found very few reasons to use the 1DX over the D800: one airshow, a couple of performances, an architectural interior or three with the 17TS. Hmmm...

JWilsonphoto wrote:
I guess Canon announced.............um........nothing new at WPPI. Difficult to believe, but it looks like Nikon might well release yet another advanced pro line body while Canon keeps working on video cameras. If that comes to pass, I'll most likely do what I did 20 years ago and make the switch back to one brand.

No, but they did announce 2 new entry level DSLRs and a shed load of point and shoots yesterday........